As my sig denotes, I love the desert, and go out camping and shooting there as often as possible. I've been doing that for 35+ years. I've had as many as 10 shooting buddies, but that number has dwindled over the years.
Two separate camping incidents, both when I was in the desert with only one of my shooting buddies.
I'm more of a "rock & roll oldies" type, buy my friend loves his country/western music. Personally, I'd rather have nothing but peace and quiet when I'm in the desert, but my friend seems to "need" his C/W music.
The first time, while sitting around the campfire at about 9:00 p.m., I was starting to nod off...until my friend just had to have a jolt of his C/W music! He had a Garth Brooks CD playing, and had the volume almost all the way up! After a few minutes of that, I got up to fetch another cup of coffee....AND to turn the volume down. MUCH better!
As soon as I settled back down in my folding chair, old Garth Brooks had some singing accompaniment....no more than about 10' away from me! A pack of 6 or 7 coyotes were howling away, and darned near in tune with Brooks! When my friend realized what was going on, he grabbed his shotgun! "Don't shoot them!", I yelled! He cranked off a round in the air, and the singers vanished. I thought that it was rather odd to have the coyotes up that close, but I figured that they had been attracted by the C/W music. "Well, at least those wild dogs appreciate your 's'-kicking music!", I told him!
The next incident took place a couple of years later, but the circumstances were similar. Nice campfire blazing, a good cup of coffee in hand, and some other C/W singer howling over the boom box. My friend needed to make a "nature call", so he started walking toward the open-air #1 bush. There was just enough light from one of the lanterns for him to see what appeared to be a tree branch on the ground....but that tree branch was moving! My friend turned around and started running back toward the camp, yelling "Snake!". He ran over to where his shotgun was, and I got up out of my chair and grabbed a shovel and a flashlight.
Sure enough, it was a Mojave Green rattlesnake, about 3' long, and twisting/turning its way directly toward our camp! "Get back!", my friend yelled, as he started to level his shotgun on the snake. "Don't shoot it!", I yelled back. He lowered his shotgun.
I stepped closer to the snake, careful to stay a safe distance (they can only strike out about one-third of their entire length, and only after they've coiled. If they haven't coiled, their striking distance is only in inches).
"Would that look good on your cowboy hat?", I asked my friend. He didn't answer. I made it up closer to the snake and.....WHUCK! The shovel blade cut off the snakes head. I picked up the still-writhing body and tried to hand it to my friend. NOPE! He wouldn't touch it! HAHA! (The green snake skin DID look good on his cowboy hat!). I figured that the snake had felt the vibrations of the C/W music, and was getting closer to our camp to investigate.
The next time that I went out camping/shooting with that friend, he pulled out his boom box and cranked up some more C/W music! "Oh, I guess that you want some more country/western music fans to show up?", I asked him. After about 30 seconds, he shut off the boom box!
Funny thing, for I've played some good ol' rock & roll in the desert at night....but I guess that the critters just don't like Elvis!
, Art